A few days after arriving in Omaha, Rob called to say the city had been slammed with a major snowstorm, and there were no flights out. He mentioned he had a chance to talk to Mr. Monaghan, but he would share that with me when he was back in Minooka in a week. A week? How much snow did Omaha get?
To pick up some extra money, Sadie had arranged for me to work as a temp in her office in downtown Scranton. The job involved phones and typing and little else, which was why the pay was so bad, but I needed money so that I could pay my mother for my room and board.
I was now into my fourth week of leave, and neither of my parents was asking what my plans were. No comments had been made as to how long my visit would last, nor had they asked if Rob had left for good. Apparently, if no one talked about my returning to England or possibly marrying a Protestant, neither of those things would happen. Who knew what was going to happen? I certainly didn’t.
It was one of my life’s greatest ironies that Patrick was the person who helped me to make my decision. From the moment my brother had picked me up at the station, the two of us had assumed our pre-war roles. He made asinine remarks, and instead of ignoring him, I almost always overreacted. It wasn’t until Bobby told me that Patrick had a secret girlfriend, Anna Sokoloski, that I finally had something to hold over his head. The next time he started in on me, I told him I knew about Anna.
“Patrick, I could threaten to tell all your friends about your girlfriend, but I don’t want to. In fact, I’d like to meet Anna.” I wanted to meet the girl who could overlook my brother’s goofiness.
“No one’s going to meet her,” he said in an angry voice. “She’s Polish, and I’m not going to have her be the butt of Polish jokes.”
“Are you in love with her?”
“What’s it to you?” He was in full defensive mode.
“What’s it to me? If you’re serious about Anna, she may end up being my sister-in-law, and I think it’s unfair of you to keep her under wraps because of your jerky friends.”
“You’re not going to tell anyone?”
“No. But in return, I want you to show me some respect. I want the two of us to have an adult relationship, and that means you have to grow up.”
The conversation immediately bore fruit, so much in fact, that Patrick took me to the tire store where Anna worked so I could meet her. There are two types of Poles: long, lean, and blue-eyed, like Leo, and short, broad, and dark-haired. Anna was the latter and very pretty. She was as short as me, with brown curly hair and gorgeous blue eyes that were almost Oriental, and she had a killer smile. She was also able to lift tires.
We had a nice lunch together at a nearby diner, and Patrick surprised me by the way he acted around her. He held open the door, put his arm around her in the booth, and spoke to her as one adult to another. They looked at each other in a way that left me with no doubt that my brother and Anna had fallen in love, and I suggested that he introduce her to the family.
“That Polish/Irish stuff is a lot of bull, Patrick. She’ll get less resistance from Mom than Rob did because she’s a Catholic. Invite her to dinner.”
At Sunday dinner, Anna received a warm welcome. My father and Sadie didn’t seem to care that she was Polish, my grandfather totally ignored her, and my mother was relieved that Patrick had finally found someone to date. After she left, everyone congratulated my brother on finding such a nice girl.
The next day, Patrick asked me to meet him for lunch downtown. Sliding into the diner booth, Patrick immediately got to the point. “Listen, I appreciate how nice you were to Anna, so I’m going to return the favor. You should break up with your flyer.”
If this was just another case of Patrick being a jerk, I was going to haul off and punch him, like Sadie did.
“I’m being serious here, Maggie. Because of Anna, I’m seeing things different. You know how, before the war, a bunch of us would go to Avoca for barbecue. No one was dating anyone; we were all just hanging out and putting coins in the jukebox and dancing. That’s what you and Rob remind me of — two people hanging out together. Don’t get me wrong. I like the guy. But I don’t want you to end up with some guy just because he’s good-looking and has some dough in his pocket. I want you to be head over heels in love. So I’m telling you straight up; Rob ain’t the one.”
Rob got off the train with a bounce in his step. After giving me a chaste kiss because there was a group of nuns in the station, he asked if there was someplace we could go to talk. We drove to my Aunt Marie’s house, which would shortly be J.J.’s house. The kitchen was cold because the morning fire had died down. After stoking the coals, I put a kettle on the burner and asked Rob what he was so eager to talk about.
“Maggie, is there a wedding in our future?”
Rob had said we were going to make plans, but I didn’t think he meant that we would start the discussion within minutes of his arrival. After my conversation with Patrick, I had thought long and hard about whether I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Rob. After seeing him following a three-month absence, I was flooded with fond memories of our time together in England, and I was very touched by his efforts to win me back since coming to Minooka. After a long silence, I finally answered, “Rob, I can’t.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. I think I knew it from the night of the ball at Montclair.”
After taking the coffee cup out of my hand, he continued, “I drank way too much that night, and when nature called, I went into the bushes. When I came out, guess who was waiting for me? Eva Greene. And she starts making out with me. It was like I had landed on fly paper. When I finally broke free, I heard the band leader announce that there was one more dance. I wanted it to be with you, but by the time I got into the ballroom, you were dancing with Michael.”
“Rob, I looked for you, but I couldn’t find you.” That was the absolute truth. Michael had been paying a lot of attention to me, but I thought the last dance should be with Rob, if for no other reason than common courtesy — “you danced with the one who brung you.”
“I know,” he said, nodding his head. “But because of Eva, I got there too late. It gave me a chance to watch the two of you together. From that time on, I was pretty sure it was never going to happen for me and you. But then you threw me a curve when you came back to the States.
“In the few days we’ve been together, I thought maybe — just maybe — there was still a chance to save this thing. I thought if I told you about my plans you’d see I was ready to make a commitment. You were really happy for me, but you weren’t happy for us. Like you said in the Crowells’ backyard, that’s because there is no ‘us.’
“It wasn’t until I got to Omaha that I put it all together. If I’m wrong here, tell me right now.” He looked at me so intently, but I could not say what he wanted to hear. “I didn’t think so; I can see it in your face. So now I have something to tell you.
“Going to Omaha was the best thing I could have done. I only wish I had gone three years ago. Everyone from Pat’s family wanted to meet me, so they reserved the Knights of Columbus hall. When I saw Pat’s photo on one of the tables, I almost bailed, but then I realized that most people were in small groups, laughing and telling stories. The Monaghans were having a party for Pat.
“The next day, Mr. Monaghan told me how excited Pat had been when he found out he was going to flight school. ‘When the Army told Pat his scores were high enough to get into the Air Corps, he was on Cloud Nine. It was the proudest day of his life when they pinned those wings on him. He said it meant that he would never have to work in a meat-packing plant again.’
“The thing that I had been dreading was that his parents would ask me how Pat had died. But all Pat’s father said was, ‘I can see that something’s bothering you. But I want you to know that there’s only one reason my son is dead, and that’s because a German killed him.’”
I had always suspected that Rob thought he had some role in his friend’s death, but I didn’t understand how something as random as flak hitting the nose of a bomber could be anyone’s fault. Taking his hand in mine, I said, “I’m glad you were able to talk to Pat’s dad, and he’s exactly right. It’s time to let the ugliness of his death go and remember what a fun and funny guy Pat was.”
Rob smiled and then continued. “A couple of days before the wedding, the Monaghans had a smaller group over for dinner.” Rob hesitated, took a drink of coffee, and then said, “At this get-together, I spent a lot of time talking to Pat’s cousin, Peggy. I had met her on my first visit to Omaha. She’s one of those people who are very easy to talk to, and we hit it off.”
“What do you mean ‘you hit if off?’ Are you saying you went out with her?”
“Sort of. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. It was because of Peggy that I realized why I had never asked you to marry me.”
“Okay, I’m listening,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.
“When we were in England together, I thought about you constantly. From the time I met you at the Christmas party, I believed I had finally found the right girl, but for some reason, I kept hanging back, and I didn’t know why. Even when I knew I was hurting you, I still didn’t ask you to marry me.
“You are the most curious person I’ve ever met. Wherever we went in London, you wanted to know everything that had ever happened there. Remember when we went to the cemetery where Elizabeth Garrison’s family is buried? You let out a whoop when you found them, as if they were your own family. I didn’t give a crap about those people. I got all caught up in it because of you.
“For you, life is an adventure. You want to go places and see things. And as long as you are living overseas, you will continue to do that. I had my adventure. Three years in the Army and thirty missions scratched that itch. I’m ready to settle down, and I think deep down I knew you weren’t.”
“And how did Peggy help you out?” I was really annoyed.
Rob had been gone for ten days, and in that time, he had met a girl who had provided such clarity he had been able to figure everything out.
“She talked about what most women her age want — getting married, buying a house, and having kids. She doesn’t care where Elizabeth I is buried or what happened in Regency England.”
“You’re making it sound as if being interested in people and places isn’t a good thing,” I answered defensively. “You’ve seen where I grew up. Of course, I want adventure.”
“Do you know what I want?” Rob asked, leaning across the table. “Getting that job at Delta and buying a car. I don’t want to tour Europe. I’ve seen all of Europe that I ever want to see. In a few years, I want to go to the beach in a station wagon with a couple of kids in the back seat. But that’s not what you want. You want to walk the streets of Pompeii and climb the Eiffel Tower.
And I want you to have it. It’s just that you can’t have those things with me.”
I didn’t have a response to that because everything he was saying was true. “Is her name really Peggy?”
“As far as I know. Why?”
“Peggy and Maggie are both short for Margaret.”
“That seems about right. Two nice women with the same name.”
We said very little on the drive back to the station because I didn’t want to start crying.
“Rob, take care of yourself. Don’t rush into anything.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. It’ll be a long time before I get over you.”
As soon as I got into the car, I started to cry. Rob had been my first true love, and we had some wonderful memories together, and now he was gone forever.